God's unseen presence shapes our lives

PRESENCEOF GOD=UNAWARE
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Genesis 28:16 16WhenJacobawoke from his sleep, he
thought, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was
not aware of it."
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
God's Providential Care
Genesis 28:15
J.F. Montgomery
Behold, I am with thee, and will keepthee in all places whither thou goest.
Among things believed; but not sufficiently realized, is the truth of God's
constantoverruling care. We can trace cause and effecta little way, then lose
the chain, and feel as if it went no further, as if events had no specialcause.
This a common evil in the life of Christians. Its root, walking by sight more
than by faith. Jacob- what made him try craft? Did not trust God fully. Had
no habit of faith. But God had not forgottenhim. And as he slept on the stone
at Bethel the reality of God's presence was made knownto him (Isaiah 43:2;
Matthew 28:20) and recorded for our learning.
I. GOD DOES ALWAYS WATCH OVER AND GUIDE. The ladder was not
a new thing; it had existed always. The vision showedwhat exists everywhere

(2 Kings 6:17). The ladder shows the truth which should stamp our lives. God
is love, and love means care. This is for all. Not our love that causes it. Our
love, trust, life spring from that truth. The living God is close to us. His hand
touches our life at every point. How is it that we are unconscious of this?
II. GOD'S WORKING IS HIDDEN AND SILENT. Jacobwas startledto find
him near. Because yearby year the world goes onas before, unbelievers deny
God's active presence, worldlymen think not of it, and even godly men
sometimes forget, for we cannotsee the top of the ladder. But God, there,
directs all.
III. HIS PURPOSES ARE ACCOMPLISHED BYMANY AGENTS. Many
angels, messengers(Psalm104:4;Hebrews 1:14); natural agents, the elements,
&c.;human agents, men goodand bad alike carrying out his will; spiritual
beings (Psalm91:11). How often those who pray for spiritual blessings forget
that common things also are ruled by God. Thus a great door of communion is
closed.
IV. BUT THERE IS SO MUCH CONFUSION IN THE WORLD. We often
cannot trace God's hand. How often is trust confounded, wise schemes
frustrated, earnestself-denial in vain; prayers, realand intense, without
apparent answer. Nay, these are but seeming confusions, to teachthe lessonof
faith. Through all these, by all these, God's purposes are surely carried out.
One greattruth is the key of all - the love of God revealedin Christ. This is
the ladder from which he proclaims, "Lo, I am with thee" (cf. Romans 8:32).
He who wrought out redemption, canhe fail?
V. GOD'S GOVERNANCEIS FOR OUR SALVATION, in the fullest sense of
the word, giving us the victory over evil. God was with Jacob. He had been
from the first, though not recognized. He was so to the end. Notgiving
uninterrupted prosperity. Many a fault and many a painful page in his
history; but through all these he was led on. The word to eachwho will receive
it - "Behold, I am with thee." Not because ofthy faith, still less of thy
goodness.Oh that every Christian would practice trust (Psalm 5:3); hearing
our Father's voice, "Commit thy wayunto the Lord," and gladly believing
"the Lord is my Shepherd." - M.

Biblical Illustrator
Surely the Lord is In this place, and I knew it not.
Genesis 28:16
The sense ofGod's presence
Bp. S. Wilberforce.
I. This living sense ofGod's presence with us is a leading feature of the
characterof all His saints under every dispensation. This is the purpose of all
God's dealings with every child of Adam — to revealHimself to them and in
them. He kindles desires after Himself; He helps and strengthens the wayward
will; He broods with a loving energyover the soul; He will save us if we will be
saved. All God's saints learn how near He is to them, and they rejoice to learn
it. They learn to delight themselves in the Lord — He gives them their hearts'
desire.

II. Notice, secondly, how this blessing is bestowedonus. For around us, as
around David, only far more abundantly, are appointed outward means,
whereby God intends to revealHimself to the soul. This is the true character
of every ordinance of the Church: all are living means of His appointment,
whereby He reveals Himself to those who thirst after Him. We use these
means aright when through them we seek afterGod. Their abuse consists
either in carelesslyneglecting these outwardthings or ill prizing them for
themselves and so resting in them, by which abuse they are turned into
especialcurses.
(Bp. S. Wilberforce.)
Unconscious providences
C. S. Robinson, D. D.
You cannot understand the annals of the race, unless you employ the doctrine
of specialprovidence for your key. "We need celestialobservations,"said
Coleridge, "wheneverwe attempt to mark out terrestial chalets." Itwas
reported as great wisdom, though uninspired, when somebodyremarked,
"Manproposes, Goddisposes." Butwisdom inspired had said long before
that: "There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless, the counselof
the Lord, that shall stand."
I. Let us look, for a moment, through the familiar incidents of the Scriptural
story, for the sake ofsome quiet illustrations they furnish The only way to
look upon Scripture characters is to contemplate them on the heavenside, to
just look up straight at them. In our conceit, we are sometimes wont to
estimate these worthies of the Old and New Testaments as being altogether
such as ourselves, wilfulestand most blind, moving self-impelled in orbits of
earthly history. Just as a child contemplates the stars it sees far down in a
placid lake, over the surface of which it sails. They do seemmere points of fire
under the water, and an infant mind may wellwonder what is their errand
there. It ought, however, to need no more than a mature instructor's voice to
remind the mistaken boy that these are but images;the true stars are circling

overhead, where the creating Hand first placed them in a system. So these
orbs of human existence, distinct, rounded, inclusive, must be judged, not as
they appear down here in the confuseddepths of a merely human career, but
aloft, where they belong, orbited in their settled and honourable place in the
counsels ofGod; —
"Forever singing, as they shine,
The hand that made us is Divine."
II. Nor is the case otherwise, whenwe enter the field of secularhistory for a
new series ofillustrations. The Almighty, in building up His architectures of
purpose, seems to have been pleasedto use light and easystrokes,slender
instruments, and dedicate took He uses the hands less, the horns coming out of
His hands more, for "there is the hiding of His power." He has employed the
leastthings to further the executionof His widest plans, sometimes bringing
them into startling prominence, and investing them with critical, and to all
appearance incommensurate, importance. What we call accidents are parts of
His ordinary, and even profound, counsels, lie chooses the weakestthings of
this world to confound the mighty. Two college students by a haystack began
the ForeignMissionwork. An old marine on ship-board commencedthe
AssociationforSailors. The tears of a desolate Welshgirl, crying for a
Testament, led to the first societyfor distributing Bibles. Were these events
accidents? No;nor these lives either. God reachedthe events through the
lives. "The Lord" was "in that place." He establishedthose lives, nameless or
named, like sentinels at posts. They did their office when the time came. They
may not have understoodit, but the Lord did. And even they understood it
afterwards.
III. We might arrestthe argument here. I choose to push it on one step
further, and enter the field of individual biography. In our every-day
existence we sometimes run along the verge of the strangestpossibilities, any
one of which would make or mar the history. And nobody ever seems to know
it but God. I feel quite sure most of us could mention the day and the hour
when a certain momentous question was decided for us, the effectof which
was to fix our entire future. Our profession, our home, our relationships all

grew out of it. No man can ever be satisfiedthat his life has been mere
commonplace. Events seemstriking, when we contemplate the influence they
have had on ourselves. A journey, a fit of sickness,a windfall of fortune, the
defectionof a friend — any such incident is most remarkable when all after-
life feels it. We never appreciate these things at the time. Yet at this moment
you canpoint your finger to a page in the unchangeable Book, andsay
honestly: "The Lord was in that place, and I knew it not." We are ready, now,
I should suppose, to searchout the use to which this principle may be applied
in ordering our lives.
1. In the beginning, we learn here at once, who are the heroes and heroines of
the world's history. They are the people who have most of the moulding care,
and gracious presenceofGod. It may be quite true they know it not. But they
will know it in the end.
2. Our next lessonhas to do with what may be consideredthe sleeps and stirs
of experience. The soul is beginning to battle with its human belongings, and
to struggle after peace under the pressure of high purposes, the swayof which
it neither wills to receive, nor dares to resist. The Lord is in that place, and the
man knows it not. Now what needs to be done, when Christian charity deals
with him? You see he is asleep;yet the ladder of Divine grace out in the air
over him makes him stir. He dreams. He is sure to see the passing and
repassing angels soon, if you treat him rightly. He must be carefully taught
and tenderly admonished.
3. We may learn likewise a third lesson;the text teaches something as to
blights in life. The world is full of cowedindividuals; of men and women
broken in spirit, yet still trying to hold on. Some catastrophe took them down.
They cannot right up again. Many a man knows that a single event, lasting
hardly a day or a night, has changedhis entire career. He questions now, in all
candour, whether he might not as well slip quietly out under the eaves, and
take his abrupt chances ofa better hereafter. If a blight results from one's
own will and intelligent sin, he deserves a scarand a limp. Pray God to forgive
the past, and try to work the robustness of what remains into new results. But
if we were only sinned against, or were unfortunate, that goes for nothing. If
we only suffered, and no sinew is wrung, we may well have done with thinking

discontentedly of it. While the world stands, all Adam's sons must work, and
all Eve's daughters must wail. No life is now, or is going to be, blighted, that
can still take a new start. Beginagain. These periods of reversalwill all sweep
by and by into the system of purposes. We shall sing songs of praise about
them in heaven.
4. Hence our best lessonis the last; it tells us how to estimate final results. The
true valuation of any human life can be made only when the entire account
shall come in. Oh, how fine it is for any one to be told, as Jacobwas:"I will
not leave thee until I have done that which I have spokento thee oil" How it
magnifies and glorifies a human life to understand that Godhimself is urging
it on to its ultimate reckoning!
(C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
Jacobat Bethel
C. Bradley, M. A.
I. The first circumstance we must notice, is THE TIME WHEN THIS
DISCOVERYOF GOD TO JACOB WAS MADE.
1. It was in a seasonof distress.
2. It was just after he had fallen into a grievous sin.
II. CONSIDERTHE ENDS TO BE ANSWERED BYIT.
1. One design, then, of this vision certainly was to give Jacobatthis time a
lively impression of the presence and providence of God, His universal
presence and ever active providence.
2. But God had another design in this vision. It was intended to renew and
confirm to Jacobthe promises He had given him.
III. But let us go on to notice THE EFFECTSPRODUCED ON JACOB BY
THIS HEAVENLY VISION.

1. The first of these was just what we might have expected — a sense ofGod's
presence;a new, startling sense ofit.
2. This vision produced fear also in Jacob. "He was afraid," we read. "How
dreadful," he said, "is this place!" And yet why should Jacobfear? No
spectacle ofterror has been presentedto him. No words of wrath have been
addressedto him. There has appeared no visionary mount Sinai flaming and
shaking before him. All he has seenand heard has spokento him of peace. We
might have expected him as he wakedto have sung with joy. What a change
since he laid himself down on these stones to sleep! The evils he most dreaded,
all averted; the mercies he mourned over as lost, all restored. Happy must his
sleephave been, and happy now his waking!But not one word do we read
here of happiness. The Holy Spirit tells us only of Jacob's fear. And why? To
impress this truth on our minds, that the man who sees Godnever trifles with
Him; that the soulHe visits and gladdens with His mercy, He always fills with
an awe of His majesty.
3. Notice yet one effect more of this scene — a desire in Jacobto render
something to the God who had so visited him. And this seems to have risen up
in his mind as soonas he awoke,and to have been an exceedinglystrong
desire. There is nothing he cando now for God, but he sets up a memorial of
God's loving kindness to him, and binds himself by a solemn purpose and vow
to show in the days that are to come his thankfulness for it.
(C. Bradley, M. A.)
Jacob's waking exclamation
I. First, THE DOCTRINE OF GOD'S OMNIPRESENCE.He is everywhere.
In the early Christian Church there was a wickedheresy, which for a long
while causedgreatdisturbance, and exceeding much controversy. There were
some who taught that Satan, the representative of evil, was of co-equalpower
with God, the representative of good. These men found it necessaryto impugn
the doctrine of God's universal power. Their doctrine denied the all-pervading
presence ofGod in the present world, and they seemedto imagine that we

should of necessityhave to get out of the world of nature altogether, before we
could be in the presence of God. Their preachers seemedto teachthat there
was a greatdistance betweenGod and His greatuniverse; they always
preachedof Him as the King who dwelt in the land that was very far off; nay,
they almostseemedto go as far as though they had said, "Betweenus and
Him there is a greatgulf fixed, so that neither canour prayers reachHim, nor
can the thoughts of His mercy come down to us." Blessedbe God that error
has long ago beenexploded, and we as Christian men, without exception,
believe that God is as much in the lowesthell as in the highest heaven, and as
truly among the sinful hosts of mortals, as among the blissful choir of
immaculate immortals, who day without night praise His name. He is
everywhere in the fields of nature. Ye shall go where ye will; ye shall look to
the most magnificent of God's works, and ye shall say — "God is here, upon
thine awful summit, O hoary Alp! in thy dark bosom, O tempest-cloud! and in
thy angry breath, O devastating hurricane!" "He makes the clouds His
chariot and rides upon the wings of the wind." God is here. And so in the most
minute — in the blossomof the apple, in the bloom of the tiny field flower, in
the sea-shellwhichhas been washedup from its mother-deep, in the sparkling
of the mineral brought up from darkestmines, in the highest staror in yon
cometthat startles the nations and in its fiery chariotsoondrives afar from
mortal ken— greatGod, Thou art here, Thou art everywhere, Fromthe
minute to the magnificent, in the beautiful and in the terrible, in the fleeting
and in the lasting, Thou art here, though sometimes we know it not.
2. Let us enter now the kingdom of Providence, againto rejoice that God is
there. My brethren, let us walk the centuries, and at one stride of thought let
us traverse the earliesttimes when man first came out of Eden, driven from it
by the fall. Then this earth had no human population, and the wild tribes of
animals roamed at their will. We know not what this island was then, save
that we may suspectit to have been coveredwith dense forests, and perhaps
inhabited by ferocious beasts;but God was here, as much here as He is to-
day; as truly was He here then, when no earheard His foot fall as He walked
in the coolof the day in this greatgarden — as truly here as when to-day the
songs often thousand rise up to heaven, blessing and magnifying His name.
And then when our history began — turn over its pages and you will read of

cruel invasions and wars which stainedthe soil with blood, and crimsoned it a
foot deep with clottedgore;you will read of civil wars and intestine strifes
betweenbrother and brother, and you will say — "How is this? How was this
permitted?" But if you read on and see how by tumult and bloody strife
Liberty was served, and the best interests of man, you will say, "Verily, God
was here. History will conduct you to awful battle-fields; she will bid you
behold the garment rolled in blood; she will coveryou with the thick darkness
of her fire and vapour of smoke;and as you hear the clashof arms, and see
the bodies of your fellow-men, you say, "The devil is here"; but truth will say,
"No, though evil be here, yet surely God was in this place though we knew it
not; all this was needful after all — these calamities are but revolutions of the
mighty wheels ofProvidence, which are too high to be understood, but are as
sure in their action as though we could predict their results." Turn if you will
to what is perhaps a worse feature in history still, and more dreary far — I
mean the story of persecutions. Readhow the men of God were stonedand
were sawnasunder; let your imaginations revive the burnings of Smithfield,
and the old dungeons of the Lollards' Tower;think how with fire and sword,
and instruments of torture, the fiends of hell seemeddetermined to extirpate
the chosenseed. Butremember as you read the bloodiesttragedy; as your
very soul grows sick atsome awful picture of poor tortured human flesh, that
verily God was in that place, scattering with rough hands, it may be, the
eternal seed, bidding persecutionbe as the blast which carries seedawayfrom
some fruit-bearing tree that it may take root in distant islets which it had
never reachedunless it had been carriedon the wings of the storm. Thou art,
O God, even where man is most in his sin and blasphemy; Thou art reigning
over rebels themselves, and overthose who seem to defy and to overturn Thy
will. Remember, always, that in history, howeverdreadful may seemthe
circumstance of the narrative, surely God is in that place.
3. But we now come to the third greatkingdom of which the truth holds good
in a yet more evident manner — the kingdom of grace. In yonder province of
conviction, where hard-hearted ones are weeping penitential tears, where
proud ones who said they would never haw this Man to reign over them are
bowing their knees to kiss the Sonlest He be angry; where rocky, adamantine
conscienceshave at last begun to feel;where obdurate, determined,

incorrigible sinners have at last turned from the error of their ways-Godis
there, for were He not there, none of these holy feelings would ever have
arisen, and the cry would never have been heard — "I will arise and go unto
my Father." And in yonder providence which shines under a brighter sun,
where penitents with joy look to a bleeding Saviour, where sinners leap to lose
their chains, sad oppressedones sing because their burdens have rolled away;
where they who were just now sitting in darkness and in the valley of the
shadow of death have seenthe greatlight — God is in that place, or faith had
never come and hope had never arisen. And there in yonder province,
brighter still, where Christians lay their bodies upon the altar as living
sacrifices,where men with self-denying zeal think themselves to be nothing
and Christ to be all in all; where the missionary leaves his kindred that he
may die among the swarthy heathen; where the young man renounces
brilliant prospects that he may be the humble servant of Jesus;where yonder
work-girltoils night and day to earn her bread rather than sellher soul;
where yonder toiling labourer stands up for the rights of conscienceagainst
the demands of the mighty; where yonder struggling believer still holds to
God in all his troubles, saying — "ThoughHe slay me yet will I trust in Him."
God is in that place, and he that has eyes to see will soonperceive His presence
there. Where the sigh is heaving, where the tearis falling, where the song is
rising, where the desire is mounting, where love is burning, hope anticipating,
faith abiding, joy o'erflowing, patience suffering, and zeal abounding, God is
surely present.
II. BUT HOW ARE WE TO RECOGNIZE THIS PRESENCE OF GOD?
What is the spirit which shall enable us constantlyto feel it?
1. If you would feel God's presence, you must have an affinity to His nature.
Your soul must have the spirit of adoption, and it will soonfind out its Father.
Your spirit must have a desire after holiness, and it will soondiscoverthe
presence ofHim who is holiness itself. Your mind must be heavenly, and you
will soondetectthat the God of Heavenis here. The more nearly we become
like God, the more Sure shall we be that God is where we are.
2. Next, there must be a calmness ofspirit. God was in the place when Jacob
came there that night, but he did not know it, for he was alarmed about his

brother Esau;he was troubled, and vexed, and disturbed. He fell asleep, and
his dream calmed him; he awoke refreshed;the noise of his troubled thoughts
was gone and he heard the voice of God. More quiet we want, more quiet,
more calm retirement, before we shall wellbe able, even with spiritual minds,
to discoverthe sensible presence ofGod.
3. But then, next, Jacobhad in addition to this calm of mind, a revelation of
Christ. That ladder, as I have said in the exposition, was a picture of Christ,
the wayof accessbetweenman and God. You will never perceive God in
nature, until you have learned to see God in grace.
4. More than this, no man will perceive God, whereverhe may be, unless he
knows that God has made a promise to be with him and is able by faith to look
to the fulfilment of it. In Jacob's case Godsaid, "I will be with thee
whithersoeverthou goest, andI will not leave thee." Christian, have you
heard the same?
III. THE PRACTICAL RESULTS OF A FULL RECOGNITION IN THE
SOUL OF THIS DOCTRINE OF GOD'S OMNIPRESENCE.One of the first
things would be to check our inordinate levity. Cheerfulness is a virtue: levity
a vice. How much foolishtalking, how much jesting which is not convenient,
would at once end if we said, "Surely God is in this place." And you, if you are
calledto enter a den such as Bunyan calledhis dungeon, can say, "Surely God
is in this place," and you make it a palace at once. Some of you, too, are in
very deep affliction. You are driven to such straits that you do not know
where things will end, and you are in greatdespondency to-day. Surely God is
in that place. As certain as there was one like unto the Son of God in the midst
of the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, andAbednego, so surely on the
glowing coals ofyour affliction the heavenly footprints may be seen, for surely
God is in this place. You are called to-day to some extraordinary duty, and
you do not feelstrong enough for it. Go to it, for "Surely God is in this place."
You have to address an assembly this afternoon for the first time. Surely God
is in that place. He will help you. The arm will not be far off on which you
have to lean, the Divine strength will not be remote to which you have to look.
"Surely God is in this place." And, lastly, if we always remembered that God
was where we are, what reverence would it inspire when we are in His house,

in the place particularly and speciallysetapart for His service!Oh, may we
remember " Surely God is in this place," and it will give us awe when we
come into His immediate presence!
( C. H. Spurgeon.)
The PresenceofGod.
Sermons at Rugby — John Percival
"And Jacobawakenedout of his sleepand said, Surely the Lord is in this
place;and I knew it not." -- GENESIS xxviii.16.
These words indicate the beginning of a new life in the patriarch Jacob. They
tell us of the moment when, as it would appear, his soul awoke in him. And
they surprise us in some degree, as suchawakenings ofspiritual capacityoften
do; for Jacob's recordedantecedents were notexactly such as to lead us to
expectthe dream and the vision, and the awakening which are described in
this passage.
He had cheatedhis brother out of his father's blessing;he was leaving his
father's house in consequence, to avoid this brother's threatened vengeance;
and as he slept at Bethelhe dreamed his dream of the ladder set up on earth
and reaching to heaven; and he saw the angels ascending and descending, and
the Lord standing above it, and he heard the Divine voice chargedwith
promise and with blessing:"I am with thee, and will keepthee in all places
whither thou goest."This, taking it in all its parts, is a very surprising
narrative; and the point in it on which I desire to fix your attention for a
moment is this, that this vision startled him into a new consciousness --
"Surely the Lord is in this place;and I knew it not." It was the beginning of a
new life.
That vision, we may be sure, never entirely faded. He was never afterwards
the same man he had been before it. It had awakenedthe divine capacityin
him; and it remained with him as a constantreminder of the presence ofGod
in his life, to protect and to inspire him -- "I am with thee, and I will keepthee

in all places whither thou goest."Sucha voice as this in a man's heart gives
his life a new quality; it puts him in a new relation to all common things.
We may wellbelieve that it was this more than anything else which drew
Jacobapart from the common heathen life around him, from that day
onwards. It was this which, in spite of all his weaknesses, defects,and failures
in life and character, graduallyraised him to a different level.
It was this which finally culminated in transforming him from Jacobthe
supplanter to Israelthe prince of God.
So far as appears, he had gone out from his home, as so many go forth in all
ages, a dull soul, though with latent capacities,his thoughts bent on securing
his personalsafetyand his worldly success. Buthe woke in the desertafter
that vision, with the seeds of the new life rootedand growing in him.
It is this moment of awakening onwhich I desire to fix your thoughts -- this
moment of his transfiguration; when he saw and felt a heavenabove him, and
yet very close, with its ladder of angelic communication, which he had not so
seenor felt before;the moment when a new consciousnessflashedthrough his
soul, and illumined unsuspectedchambers in it, stirring new thoughts and
new aspirations. He woke up to be a new man henceforth, moving in a new
presence, and having always in his ears the voice of a Divine call.
Do you ask why I dwell on this familiar history, or desire that you should
contemplate and realise this change in the young man Jacob? It is because
there is just the same soul, the same capacityof higher life in every one of us:
in some it is awakealreadyand transfiguring their life; in others still latent,
sleeping, undiscovered.
I dwell on it because it makes and will make all the difference in the world to
your life whether in your case this capacityis awakenedornot. This, then, is
what I have to postulate as giving a value beyond the powerof words to
describe to every soul amongstus.
It bids us recognise and keepalways before us that in every common life, of
child or man, even in the most worldly or the hardest, the most frivolous, the
most cynical, the most sensual, or the most degraded, there is latent, it may be

altogetherunfelt and disregardedthrough long years, giving no sign of its
presence, it may be, it often is, overlaid, trodden down, even at the point of
death, but still there, this living soul with all its possibilities. It is within every
one of us, stamped with the image of God, and chargedwith unimagined
possibilities.
And it must be obvious that the whole difference betweenany two lives,
betweenyour life and your neighbour's life, may depend on this awakening of
the soulin one of you and its not awakening in the other.
Of the two brothers, Esau and Jacob, I suppose we are all drawn at the outset
to Esau; our heart goes out to him, as we read, the impulsive, the impetuous,
the affectionate, andwe feel a corresponding dislike of Jacob's craftand
cunning, and selfish calculations. There canbe no doubt, we say, which was
the meanercharacterto begin with.
But neither is there any doubt why it was that it came to be written, "JacobI
have loved, but Esauhave I hated." The one was just the child of the world
around him, yielding to its temptations, living by its standards. The soulin
him never awoke, so as to transfigure his thoughts and purposes. The other is
a man of Divine visions, inspired with the sense ofa Divine presence anda
Divine purpose directing him.
Nowhere do we see more clearlythan in this narrative how greata change
may come to any of us, if the unawakenedcapacitiesofour soulare touched
by the breath of some uplifting inspiration.
As we read of this contrastbetweenEsauand Jacob, and their destinies, we
feel -- and we feel it all the more because Jacobto begin with seems to be
made of such common clay -- we feel what a transforming power in a man's
life this awaking of the soul may be.
A life which is without the inspiration that takes possessionofus in the
moments of this awakening, andis consequentlywithout these visions that
flash before the soul as it awakens,a life that is not deeply stirred by spiritual
hopes or Divine thought, or the callto new duty, remains in one man a selfish
and worldly life, in another a frivolous, in a third a sensuallife. But the very

same life -- and here is the practicalvalue to us, here is the hopefulness of such
considerations -- the very same life, when the breath of God's spirit or His
penetrating voice has stirred and roused the soul in it, is felt to be
transformed. The man is born anew.
"There is nothing finer," some one has said, "than to see a soul rise up in men,
which amazes the very men in whom it rises." Theyare surprised to find that
these new capacities were in them, unnoticed through their carelessdays, yet
in them all the time. This birth of the new life, with all its promise of new
tastes, new ambitions, new thoughts, new purposes, may indeed come to you
without your feeling all at once how greata thing it is. At first it may be
nothing more than some vision of the possibilities of your life, or some electric
flash of new consciousnessthat runs through you, or the sharp pang of
remorse for some sin or some neglect, orthe flush of shame or repulsion as
you think of something or other in your life, or the glow of some good
resolution to begin some new life or new duty, or take some new turn, or
pursue some new aim. You hardly think perhaps of this as the awakening of
your soul. It may never have occurredto you to think of it as being just as
sacreda thing as was Jacob's visionat Bethel, as being indeed the work of the
same Divine spirit.
But let us consider it a little further. Whateverit is that is thus stirring in your
heart, it comes and it comes again;it lingers in your thoughts and feelings;it
haunts, it impresses and awes you; it rises before you suddenly and stops you
from some sin, or, if it fails to stopyou, it turns the pleasure for which you
craved into wretchedness;or it encourages andconsoles youin some hour of
weakness orsorrow. I suppose there is hardly one of you who has not had
some such experience as this. And if you ask. What is it? It is, I repeat, the
awakening ofthe soulin you -- nothing less than this -- and happy is it for you,
if you recognisethat it is the soul striving to win its proper place in the
regulation of your life.
When Moses saw the vision of the burning bush, and suddenly felt himself on
holy ground; when Elijah heard the still, small voice calling, "What doest
thou here, Elijah?" when Saul, on his wayto Damascus, fellto the ground
conscience-smitten, crushed, blinded, rebuked; when the child Samuel heard

the Divine voice calling to him in the darkness ofthe night; -- in eachcase it
was the awakening orthe reawakening of the soul -- the uprising of the
spiritual capacities, the vision of the higher life -- and so exactly with all of
you. Are you not sometimes conscious ofthe uprisings in you of a spirit calling
upon you to recognise the angels' ladder that connects your life also with the
heaven above us?
If so, there is this further thing to note about such moments of experience.
This feeling of some spiritual capacityin you, this call to some higher view of
life and duty, this uprising of the moral sense and the repulsion towards the
lowerforms of life which comes with it -- this is God's personalgift to us, and
we pray that you may possessit early; for it is not only a new consciousness, it
is itself a new powerin your life.
You cannot have it, feeling its presence and hearing its suggestions,and
debase your life in any way, as you might have done, but for its presence. It is
so very true that, in the life of the Spirit, looking up means lifting up. As the
plant turns to the sun, it grows towards the sun; as it looks up to the light, it
grows towards the light; so it is with us. We feel that we are sons of God, and
we tend to become so. Through some influence or other, we awaketo a vivid
consciousnessthatGod has createdus in His image, endowedus with Divine
capacities,and this consciousness becomes a purifying and inspiring force in
our life, and it is a new life in consequence.
Pray that such influences may prevail around you here, and that you may
hold them fast until they have blessedyour life.
STUDYLIGHT RESOURCES
Adam Clarke Commentary

The Lord is in this place;and I knew it not - That is, God has made this place
his peculiar residence;it is a place in which he meets with and reveals himself
to his followers. Jacobmight have supposed that this place had been
consecratedto God. And it has alreadybeen supposed that, his mind having
been brought into a humble frame, he was prepared to hold communion with
his Maker.
The Biblical Illustrator
Genesis 28:16
Surely the Lord is In this place, and I knew it not
The sense ofGod’s presence
I.
This living sense of God’s presence with us is a leading feature of the
God’s dealings with every child of Adam--to reveal Himself to them and in
saved. All God’s saints learn how near He is to them, and they rejoice to learn
it. They learn to delight themselves in the Lord--He gives them their hearts’
desire.
either in carelesslyneglecting these outwardthings or ill prizing them for

especialcurses.(Bp. S. Wilberforce.)
Unconscious providences
You cannot understand the annals of the race, unless you employ the doctrine
of specialprovidence for your key. “We need celestialobservations,”said
Coleridge, “wheneverwe attempt to mark out terrestial chalets.” Itwas
reported as great wisdom, though uninspired, when somebodyremarked,
“Manproposes, Goddisposes.” Butwisdom inspired had said long before
that: “There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless, the counselof
the Lord, that shall stand.”
I. Let us look, for a moment, through the familiar incidents of the Scriptural
story, for the sake ofsome quiet illustrations they furnish The only way to
look upon Scripture characters is to contemplate them on the heavenside, to
just look up straight at them. In our conceit, we are sometimes wont to
estimate these worthies of the Old and New Testaments as being altogether
such as ourselves, wilfulestand most blind, moving self-impelled in orbits of
earthly history. Just as a child contemplates the stars it sees far down in a
placid lake, over the surface of which it sails. They do seemmere points of fire
under the water, and an infant mind may wellwonder what is their errand
there. It ought, however, to need no more than a mature instructor’s voice to
remind the mistaken boy that these are but images;the true stars are circling
overhead, where the creating Hand first placed them in a system. So these
orbs of human existence, distinct, rounded, inclusive, must be judged, not as
they appear down here in the confuseddepths of a merely human career, but
aloft, where they belong, orbited in their settled and honourable place in the
counsels ofGod;--
“Forever singing, as they shine, The hand that made us is Divine.”
II. Nor is the case otherwise, whenwe enter the field of secularhistory for a
new series ofillustrations. The Almighty, in building up His architectures of

purpose, seems to have been pleasedto use light and easystrokes,slender
instruments, and dedicate took He uses the hands less, the horns coming out of
His hands more, for “there is the hiding of His power.” He has employed the
leastthings to further the executionof His widest plans, sometimes bringing
them into startling prominence, and investing them with critical, and to all
appearance incommensurate, importance. What we call accidents are parts of
His ordinary, and even profound, counsels, lie chooses the weakestthings of
this world to confound the mighty. Two college students by a haystack began
the ForeignMissionwork. An old marine on ship-board commencedthe
AssociationforSailors. The tears of a desolate Welshgirl, crying for a
Testament, led to the first societyfor distributing Bibles. Were these events
accidents? No;nor these lives either. God reachedthe events through the
lives. “The Lord” was “in that place.” He establishedthose lives, nameless or
named, like sentinels at posts. They did their office when the time came. They
may not have understoodit, but the Lord did. And even they understood it
afterwards.
III. We might arrestthe argument here. I choose to push it on one step
further, and enter the field of individual biography. In our every-day
existence we sometimes run along the verge of the strangestpossibilities, any
one of which would make or mar the history. And nobody ever seems to know
it but God. I feel quite sure most of us could mention the day and the hour
when a certain momentous question was decided for us, the effectof which
was to fix our entire future. Our profession, our home, our relationships all
grew out of it. No man can ever be satisfiedthat his life has been mere
commonplace. Events seemstriking, when we contemplate the influence they
have had on ourselves. A journey, a fit of sickness,a windfall of fortune, the
defectionof a friend--any such incident is most remarkable when all after-life
feels it. We never appreciate these things at the time. Yet at this moment you
can point your finger to a page in the unchangeable Book, and sayhonestly:
“The Lord was in that place, and I knew it not.” We are ready, now, I should
suppose, to searchout the use to which this principle may be applied in
ordering our lives.

1. In the beginning, we learn here at once, who are the heroes and heroines of
the world’s history. They are the people who have most of the moulding care,
and gracious presenceofGod. It may be quite true they know it not. But they
will know it in the end.
2. Our next lessonhas to do with what may be consideredthe sleeps and stirs
of experience. The soul is beginning to battle with its human belongings, and
to struggle after peace under the pressure of high purposes, the swayof which
it neither wills to receive, nor dares to resist. The Lord is in that place, and the
man knows it not. Now what needs to be done, when Christian charity deals
with him? You see he is asleep;yet the ladder of Divine grace out in the air
over him makes him stir. He dreams.
He is sure to see the passing and repassing angels soon, if you treat him
rightly. He must be carefully taught and tenderly admonished.
3. We may learn likewise a third lesson;the text teaches something as to
blights in life. The world is full of cowedindividuals; of men and women
broken in spirit, yet still trying to hold on. Some catastrophe took them down.
They cannot right up again. Many a man knows that a single event, lasting
hardly a day or a night, has changedhis entire career. He questions now, in all
candour, whether he might not as well slip quietly out under the eaves, and
take his abrupt chances ofa better hereafter. If a blight results from one’s
own will and intelligent sin, he deserves a scarand a limp. Pray God to forgive
the past, and try to work the robustness of what remains into new results. But
if we were only sinned against, or were unfortunate, that goes for nothing. If
we only suffered, and no sinew is wrung, we may well have done with thinking
discontentedly of it. While the world stands, all Adam’s sons must work, and
all Eve’s daughters must wail. No life is now, or is going to be, blighted, that
can still take a new start. Beginagain. These periods of reversalwill all sweep
by and by into the system of purposes. We shall sing songs of praise about
them in heaven.
4. Hence our best lessonis the last; it tells us how to estimate final results. The
true valuation of any human life can be made only when the entire account
shall come in. Oh, how fine it is for any one to be told, as Jacobwas:“I will

not leave thee until I have done that which I have spokento thee oil” How it
magnifies and glorifies a human life to understand that Godhimself is urging
it on to its ultimate reckoning!(C. S.Robinson, D. D.)
Jacobat Bethel
I. The first circumstance we must notice, is THE TIME WHEN THIS
DISCOVERYOF GOD TO JACOB WAS MADE.
1. It was in a seasonof distress.
2. It was just after he had fallen into a grievous sin.
II. CONSIDERTHE ENDS TO BE ANSWERED BYIT.
1. One design, then, of this vision certainly was to give Jacobatthis time a
lively impression of the presence and providence of God, His universal
presence and ever active providence.
2. But God had another design in this vision. It was intended to renew and
confirm to Jacobthe promises He had given him.
III. But let us go on to notice THE EFFECTSPRODUCED ON JACOB BY
THIS HEAVENLY VISION.
1. The first of these was just what we might have expected--a sense ofGod’s
presence;a new, startling sense of it.
2. This vision produced fear also in Jacob. “He was afraid,” we read. “How
dreadful,” he said, “is this place!” And yet why should Jacobfear? No
spectacle ofterror has been presentedto him. No words of wrath have been
addressedto him. There has appeared no visionary mount Sinai flaming and
shaking before him. All he has seenand heard has spokento him of peace. We
might have expected him as he wakedto have sung with joy. What a change
since he laid himself down on these stones to sleep! The evils he most dreaded,

all averted; the mercies he mourned over as lost, all restored. Happy must his
sleephave been, and happy now his waking!But not one word do we read
here of happiness. The Holy Spirit tells us only of Jacob’s fear. And why? To
impress this truth on our minds, that the man who sees Godnever trifles with
Him; that the soulHe visits and gladdens with His mercy, He always fills with
an awe of His majesty.
3. Notice yet one effect more of this scene--a desire in Jacobto render
something to the God who had so visited him. And this seems to have risen up
in his mind as soonas he awoke,and to have been an exceedinglystrong
desire. There is nothing he cando now for God, but he sets up a memorial of
God’s loving kindness to him, and binds himself by a solemn purpose and vow
to show in the days that are to come his thankfulness for it. (C. Bradley, M.
A.)
Jacob’s waking exclamation
I. First, THE DOCTRINE OF GOD’S OMNIPRESENCE.He is everywhere.
In the early Christian Church there was a wickedheresy, which for a long
while causedgreatdisturbance, and exceeding much controversy. There were
some who taught that Satan, the representative of evil, was of co-equalpower
with God, the representative of good. These men found it necessaryto impugn
the doctrine of God’s universal power. Their doctrine denied the all-
pervading presence ofGod in the present world, and they seemedto imagine
that we should of necessityhave to getout of the world of nature altogether,
before we could be in the presence of God. Their preachers seemedto teach
that there was a greatdistance betweenGod and His greatuniverse; they
always preachedof Him as the King who dwelt in the land that was very far
off; nay, they almost seemedto go as far as though they had said, “Betweenus
and Him there is a greatgulf fixed, so that neither canour prayers reachHim,
nor canthe thoughts of His mercy come down to us.” Blessedbe Godthat
error has long ago beenexploded, and we as Christian men, without
exception, believe that Godis as much in the lowesthell as in the highest
heaven, and as truly among the sinful hosts of mortals, as among the blissful

choir of immaculate immortals, who day without night praise His name. He is
everywhere in the fields of nature. Ye shall go where ye will; ye shall look to
the most magnificent of God’s works, and ye shall say--“Godis here, upon
thine awful summit, O hoary Alp! in thy dark bosom, O tempest-cloud! and in
thy angry breath, O devastating hurricane!” “He makes the clouds His
chariot and rides upon the wings of the wind.” Godis here. And so in the most
minute--in the blossomof the apple, in the bloom of the tiny field flower, in
the sea-shellwhichhas been washedup from its mother-deep, in the sparkling
of the mineral brought up from darkestmines, in the highest staror in yon
cometthat startles the nations and in its fiery chariotsoondrives afar from
mortal ken--greatGod, Thou art here, Thou art everywhere, From the minute
to the magnificent, in the beautiful and in the terrible, in the fleeting and in
the lasting, Thou art here, though sometimes we know it not.
2. Let us enter now the kingdom of Providence, againto rejoice that God is
there. My brethren, let us walk the centuries, and at one stride of thought let
us traverse the earliesttimes when man first came out of Eden, driven from it
by the fall. Then this earth had no human population, and the wild tribes of
animals roamed at their will. We know not what this island was then, save
that we may suspectit to have been coveredwith dense forests, and perhaps
inhabited by ferocious beasts;but God was here, as much here as He is to-
day; as truly was He here then, when no earheard His foot fall as He walked
in the coolof the day in this greatgarden--as truly here as when to-day the
songs often thousand rise up to heaven, blessing and magnifying His name.
And then when our history began--turn over its pages and you will read of
cruel invasions and wars which stainedthe soil with blood, and crimsoned it a
foot deep with clottedgore;you will read of civil wars and intestine strifes
betweenbrother and brother, and you will say--“How is this? How was this
permitted?” But if you read on and see how by tumult and bloody strife
Liberty was served, and the best interests of man, you will say, “Verily, God
was here. History will conduct you to awful battle-fields; she will bid you
behold the garment rolled in blood; she will coveryou with the thick darkness
of her fire and vapour of smoke;and as you hear the clashof arms, and see
the bodies of your fellow-men, you say, “The devil is here”; but truth will say,
“No, though evil be here, yet surely God was in this place though we knew it

not; all this was needful after all--these calamities are but revolutions of the
mighty wheels ofProvidence, which are too high to be understood, but are as
sure in their action as though we could predict their results.” Turn if you will
to what is perhaps a worse feature in history still, and more dreary far--I
mean the story of persecutions. Readhow the men of God were stonedand
were sawnasunder; let your imaginations revive the burnings of Smithfield,
and the old dungeons of the Lollards’ Tower;think how with fire and sword,
and instruments of torture, the fiends of hell seemeddetermined to extirpate
the chosenseed. Butremember as you read the bloodiesttragedy; as your
very soul grows sick atsome awful picture of poor tortured human flesh, that
verily God was in that place, scattering with rough hands, it may be, the
eternal seed, bidding persecutionbe as the blast which carries seedawayfrom
some fruit-bearing tree that it may take root in distant islets which it had
never reachedunless it had been carriedon the wings of the storm. Thou art,
O God, even where man is most in his sin and blasphemy; Thou art reigning
over rebels themselves, and overthose who seem to defy and to overturn Thy
will. Remember, always, that in history, howeverdreadful may seemthe
circumstance of the narrative, surely God is in that place.
3. But we now come to the third greatkingdom of which the truth holds good
in a yet more evident manner--the kingdom of grace. In yonder province of
conviction, where hard-hearted ones are weeping penitential tears, where
proud ones who said they would never haw this Man to reign over them are
bowing their knees to kiss the Sonlest He be angry; where rocky, adamantine
conscienceshave at last begun to feel;where obdurate, determined,
incorrigible sinners have at last turned from the error of their ways-Godis
there, for were He not there, none of these holy feelings would ever have
arisen, and the cry would never have been heard--“I will arise and go unto my
Father.” And in yonder providence which shines under a brighter sun, where
penitents with joy look to a bleeding Saviour, where sinners leap to lose their
chains, sad oppressedones sing because their burdens have rolled away;
where they who were just now sitting in darkness and in the valley of the
shadow of death have seenthe greatlight--God is in that place, or faith had
never come and hope had never arisen.And there in yonder province, brighter
still, where Christians lay their bodies upon the altar as living sacrifices,

where men with self-denying zeal think themselves to be nothing and Christ to
be all in all; where the missionaryleaves his kindred that he may die among
the swarthy heathen; where the young man renounces brilliant prospects that
he may be the humble servant of Jesus;where yonder work-girltoils night
and day to earn her bread rather than sell her soul; where yonder toiling
labourer stands up for the rights of conscienceagainstthe demands of the
mighty; where yonder struggling believer still holds to God in all his troubles,
saying--“ThoughHe slay me yet will I trust in Him.” God is in that place, and
he that has eyes to see will soonperceive His presence there. Where the sigh is
heaving, where the tearis falling, where the song is rising, where the desire is
mounting, where love is burning, hope anticipating, faith abiding, joy
o’erflowing, patience suffering, and zeal abounding, God is surely present.
II. BUT HOW ARE WE TO RECOGNIZE THIS PRESENCE OF GOD?
What is the spirit which shall enable us constantlyto feel it?
1. If you would feel God’s presence, you must have an affinity to His nature.
Your soul must have the spirit of adoption, and it will soonfind out its Father.
Your spirit must have a desire after holiness, and it will soondiscoverthe
presence ofHim who is holiness itself. Your mind must be heavenly, and you
will soondetectthat the God of Heavenis here. The more nearly we become
like God, the more Sure shall we be that God is where we are.
2. Next, there must be a calmness ofspirit. God was in the place when Jacob
came there that night, but he did not know it, for he was alarmed about his
brother Esau;he was troubled, and vexed, and disturbed. He fell asleep, and
his dream calmed him; he awoke refreshed;the noise of his troubled thoughts
was gone and he heard the voice of God. More quiet we want, more quiet,
more calm retirement, before we shall wellbe able, even with spiritual minds,
to discoverthe sensible presence ofGod.
3. But then, next, Jacobhad in addition to this calm of mind, a revelation of
Christ. That ladder, as I have said in the exposition, was a picture of Christ,
the wayof accessbetweenman and God. You will never perceive God in
nature, until you have learned to see God in grace.

4. More than this, no man will perceive God, whereverhe may be, unless he
knows that God has made a promise to be with him and is able by faith to look
to the fulfilment of it. In Jacob’s case Godsaid, “I will be with thee
whithersoeverthou goest, andI will not leave thee.” Christian, have you heard
the same?
III. THE PRACTICAL RESULTS OF A FULL RECOGNITION IN THE
SOUL OF THIS DOCTRINE OF GOD’S OMNIPRESENCE.One of the first
things would be to check our inordinate levity. Cheerfulness is a virtue: levity
a vice. How much foolishtalking, how much jesting which is not convenient,
would at once end if we said, “Surely God is in this place.” And you, if you are
calledto enter a den such as Bunyan calledhis dungeon, can say, “Surely God
is in this place,” and you make it a palace at once. Some of you, too, are in
very deep affliction. You are driven to such straits that you do not know
where things will end, and you are in greatdespondency to-day. Surely God is
in that place. As certain as there was one like unto the Son of God in the midst
of the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, andAbednego, so surely on the
glowing coals ofyour affliction the heavenly footprints may be seen, for surely
God is in this place. You are called to-day to some extraordinary duty, and
you do not feelstrong enough for it. Go to it, for “Surely God is in this place.”
You have to address an assembly this afternoon for the first time. Surely God
is in that place. He will help you. The arm will not be far off on which you
have to lean, the Divine strength will not be remote to which you have to look.
“Surely God is in this place.” And, lastly, if we always remembered that God
was where we are, what reverence would it inspire when we are in His house,
in the place particularly and speciallysetapart for His service!Oh, may we
remember “ Surely God is in this place,” and it will give us awe when we come
into His immediate presence!(C. H. Spurgeon.)
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And Jacobawakedout of his sleep,....Which had been sweetunto him, and
out of his dream, it being now over; and it having left such a weight upon his
mind, and such an awe upon his spirits, it might tend the soonerto awaken
him; what time it was is not said, perhaps it was in the middle of the night or
towards morning, since after this it is said that he rose early in the morning:
and he said, surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not; Godis
everywhere, in a generalway, upholding all things by his power, as he is
immense and omnipresent; but here he was in a specialsense, by some signal
tokenof his presence;by a streamof light and glory darting from the heavens,
hence Onkelos and Jonathan paraphrase it,"the glory of the Lord, and the
glory of the majesty of the Lord;'and by the appearance ofangels, and by the
communications of his mind and will, and grace to Jacob, and that
communion he had with him in his dream, of which he was very sensible:for,
when he says, "Iknew it not", the meaning is, he did not think or expectto
meet with God in such a place; he did not know that God ever appeared
anywhere but in the houses of his people, such as his father's house; and in the
congregationof the faithful, or where the saints met for public worship, or
where an altar was erectedfor God: though sometimes Godis present with his
people, and they are not sensible of it; as the church in Isaiah 41:10;and as
Mary, when Christ was at her elbow, and she knew him not, John 20:13.
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Jacobawakedout of his sleep — His language and his conduct were alike that
of a man whose mind was pervaded by sentiments of solemn awe, of fervent
piety, and lively gratitude (Jeremiah 31:36).
Hawker's PoorMan's Commentary
What gracious effects divine manifestations leave on the mind! Reader!would
you know whether the Lord hath revealedhimself to your heart? Look within.
See what hath God wrought! What traces hath the Holy Spirit left behind.

Jacobfelt surprise, holy fear, gracious assurance, devoutmeltings of the heart
towards God, solemndedications of the soul, and the warmestthanksgivings.
Wesley's ExplanatoryNotes
And Jacobawakedout of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this
place;and I knew it not.
Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not — God's manifestations of
himself to his people carry their own evidence along with them. God can give
undeniable demonstrations of his presence, suchas give abundant satisfaction
to the souls of the faithful, that God is with them of a truth; satisfactionnot
communicable to others, but convincing to themselves. We sometimes meet
with God there, where we little thought of meeting with him. He is there
where we did not think he had been, is found there where we askednot for
him.
Calvin's Commentary on the Bible
16.And Jacobawaked. Mosesagainaffirms that this was no common dream;
for when any one awakeshe immediately perceives that he had been under a
delusions in dreaming. But God impressed a sign on the mind of his servant,
by which, when he awoke, he might recognize the heavenly oracle which he
had heard in his sleep. Moreover, Jacob, in express terms, accuseshimself,
and extols the goodnessofGod, who deigned to present himself to one who
sought him not; for Jacobthought that he was there alone: but now, after the
Lord appeared, he wonders, and exclaims that he had obtained more than he
could have dared to hope for. It is not, however, to be doubted that Jacobhad
calledupon God, and had trusted that he would be the guide of his journey;
but, because his faith had not availed to persuade him that God was thus near
unto him, he justly extols this act of grace. So, wheneverGodanticipates our
wishes, and grants us more than our minds have conceived;let us learn, after
the example of this patriarch, to wonder that Godshould have been present
with us. Now, if eachof us would reflecthow feeble his faith is, this mode of

speaking would appearalways proper for us all; for who cancomprehend, in
his scantymeasure, the immense multitude of gifts which Godis perpetually
heaping upon us?
James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary
THE PILGRIM’S VISION
‘And Jacobsaid, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.’
Genesis 28:16
At Bethel Jacobgainedthe knowledge for himself of the real presence ofa
personalGod. He felt that he a person, he a true living being, he a reasonable
soul, stoodindeed before an infinite but still a true personalbeing—before the
Lord Almighty. Then it was that the patriarch entered into the greatness of
his calling, and felt for himself the true blessednessofhis inheritance.
I. This living sense ofGod’s presence with us is a leading feature of the
God’s dealings with every child of Adam—to revealHimself to them and in
saved. All God’s saints learn how near He is to them, and they rejoice to learn
it. They learn to delight themselves in the Lord—He gives them their heart’s
desire.
either in carelesslyneglecting these outwardthings or in prizing them for

especialcurses.
—BishopS. Wilberforce.
Illustration
(1) ‘It was worth while to light on such a place, to getsuch a dream! My soul,
never talk of the accidents ofthy life. Never saythat any spot, however
deserted—thatany pillow, howeverstony—has come to thee by chance. The
stone thou rejectest, may become the head of the corner. The stray moment
which thou despisest, may be the pivot on which thy fate revolves. The sleep
which thou callestweakness,may be the origin of thy princely strength—thy
prevailing powerwith God and man. Tread solemnly the trifling paths of
existence. Walk reverently through the days that seemto thee without
meaning. Uncover thy head in the presence of things which the world calls
commonplace, for the steps of the commonplace way may be thy ladder from
earth to heaven.’
(2) ‘This is the hour of Jacob’s conversion. Godcomes to him at Bethel in
grace, and makes him a new man. Cheat and supplanter as he was, fugitive
from his father’s house, God sees his value and enrols him among the children
of His family.
The whole history of His Church is filled with similar instances ofHis
clearsightedness andmercy.
In the midsummer of 1648, a Royalistsoldier, who had been captured by the
men of the Parliament after a fierce fight in the streets ofMaid-stone, was
doomed to die on the gallows.By a kind of miracle he succeededin making his
escape. But“he abode still very vile and debauched in his life, being a great
drinker and gamesterand swearer.”YetJohn Gifford, for that was his name,
having had first himself and then his Saviour revealed to him, became by-and-
by a preacher of the Gospelin the town of Bedford. He it is who lives in the
literature of the world as the Evangelistof The Pilgrim’s Progress. He it was
who pointed Bunyan himself, when he was weeping and breaking out with a

lamentable cry, to the Interpreter’s House and the place where the Cross of
Jesus stands.
The Love which saved Jacoband John Gifford is eagerto seek and save me.
Has it broken down my rebellion? Has it scatteredmy suspicious thoughts?
Has it kindled in me an answering response oflove?’
John Trapp Complete Commentary
Genesis 28:16 And Jacobawakedout of his sleep, and he said, Surely the
LORD is in this place;and I knew [it] not.
Ver. 16. And I knew it not,] viz., That God is graciouslypresentin one place,
as well as in another. Our ignorance and unbelief is freely to be confessedand
acknowledged. Thus David; [Psalms 73:22] Agur. [Proverbs 30:2] Pray for
me, saith Father Latimer to his friend; pray for me, I say: for I am sometimes
so fearful, that I would creepinto a mouse hole. (a) And in a certain sermon;
(b) I myself, saith he, have used, in mine earnestmatters, to say, "Yea, by St
Mary"; which indeed is naught.
Sermon Bible Commentary
Genesis 28:16
At Bethel Jacobgainedthe knowledge for himself of the real presence ofa
personalGod. He felt that he a person, he a true living being, he a reasonable
soul, stoodindeed before an infinite but still a true personalbeing—before the
Lord Almighty. Then it was that the patriarch entered into the greatness of
his calling, and felt for himself the true blessednessofhis inheritance.
I. This living sense ofGod's presence with us is a leading feature of the
God's dealings with every child of Adam—to revealHimself to them and in

saved. All God's saints learn how near He is to them, and they rejoice to learn
it. They learn to delight themselves in the Lord—He gives them their hearts'
desire.
either in carelesslyneglecting these outwardthings or in prizing them for
especialcurses.
S. Wilberforce, Sermons, p. 66.
References:Genesis 28:16.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vii., No. 401;Homiletic
Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 548. Genesis28:16, Genesis28:17.—J. B. Mozley,
Parochialand OccasionalSermons, p. 28;W. F. Hook, Sermons on Various
Subjects, p. 152;Archbishop Thomson, Life in the Light of God's Word, p.
143. Genesis 28:16-22.—R.S. Candlish, Book ofGenesis, vol. ii., p. 10.
Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible
Genesis 28:16. Surelythe Lord is in this place, and I knew it not— Jacob
knew very well that the Lord was in every place;nor canhis words be fairly
understood to contradict this fundamental knowledge. Butthough the Lord is
in every place, yet, he was pleased, ofold times, to vouchsafe his presence to
manifest his glory, in some places peculiarly; to this Jacobrefers:"This is a
place consecratedto, and in which the Lord manifests himself; and I knew not
that it was a place of such a nature: I did not know that it was any other than
a common spot; I understood not that Jehovahpeculiarly manifested his
presence here." In the primitive ages, whenGod vouchsafedto exhibit
symbols and tokens of his presence in particular places, it was natural and

just to affix a notion of relative sanctity to these places. In this view, all
objections concerning the patriarch's imperfect notions of the Deity vanish:
and the next words follow with greatpropriety, This is none other but a house
of God, (which I conceivedto be an ordinary place,)and this is the gate of
heaven! the door of entrance into those celestialregions, whichthis Divine
vision hath representedto me. Some think that these words allude to the
custom of those times, of kings and judges keeping their courts in the gates of
cities, attended with their guards and officers;as if Jacobhad said, "Here
God keeps his court, attended by his angels."
Matthew Poole's EnglishAnnotations on the Holy Bible
Surely the Lord is in this place, by his specialand gracious presence, andthe
manifestation of his mind and will to me; and I little expectedto meet with
such a revelation out of my father’s house, much less in this desertand doleful
state and place, when I thought myself rejectedby God, as well as abandoned
by men.
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
16. Surely the Lord is in this place — The vision awakeneda new life, and a
new world of thought and emotion within him. He had been, comparatively, a
strangerto Jehovah.
I knew it not — Jacobhad gone to sleepwithout any thought that there, alone
and sorrowfuland anxious, he was speciallycaredfor and watchedby
Abraham’s God. No such open revelation had ever come to him before, and he
was takenby surprise.
JosephBenson's Commentaryof the Old and New Testaments
Genesis 28:16. Surelythe Lord is in this place; I knew it not — God’s
manifestations of himself to his people carry their own evidence along with
them. God cangive undeniable demonstrations of his presence, suchas give
abundant satisfactionto the souls of the faithful, that God is with them of a

truth; satisfactionnot communicable to others, but convincing to themselves.
We sometimes meetwith God there, where we little thought of meeting with
him. He is there where we did not think he had been; is found there where we
askednot for him.
George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary
Knew it not. Jacobwas notignorant that God fills all places. But he thought
that he would not manifest himself thus in a land given to idolatry. He begins
to suspectthat the place had been formerly consecratedto the worship of the
true God, (Calmet) as it probably had by Abraham, who dwelt near Bethel,
(chap. xii. 8, ) and built an altar on Mount Moria, chap. xxii. 14. Interpreters
are not agreedon which of these places Jacobspentthe night. St. Augustine,
q. 83, supposes it was on the latter, "where Godappointed the tabernacle to
remain." The Chaldeanparaphrases it very well in this sense, ver. 17, "How
terrible is this place!It is not an ordinary place, but a place beloved by God,
and over againstthis place is the door of heaven." (Haydock)
E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes
Surely. Figure of speechEcphonesis. App-6.
this place. See on the word "above", Genesis28:13.
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged
And Jacobawakedout of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this
place;and I knew it not.
Jacobawaked... His language and his conduct were like that of a man whose
mind was pervaded by sentiments of solemnawe, of fervent piety, and lively
gratitude (Jeremiah 31:36).

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(16) Surely the Lord (Jehovah) is in this place.—Jacobwas notunaware of the
omnipresence of the Deity: what astonishedhim was that Jehovahshould thus
revealHimself far awayfrom the shrines where He was worshipped. Rebekah
had gone to one of these to inquire of Jehovah(Genesis 25:22), and probably
to a shrine in the very neighbourhood of the place where Jacobwas sleeping
(Genesis 12:8). But first Abraham, and then Isaac, had for so long made Beer-
sheba their home, that Jacobprobably knew little about the sanctity of the
spot, and felt himself far awayfrom all the religious associations ofhis youth,
and from that “presence ofJehovah” whichin antediluvian times had also
been supposedto be confined to certain localities (Genesis 4:16). But one great
objectof the dream was to show that Jehovahwatches overthe whole earth,
and that messengers to and fro come from Him and return unto Him.
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
"NeverAlone"
Genesis 28:10-22
Rev. Bruce Goettsche.. . . . . . . . September5,1999
At one time or another you have probably known what it was like to feel
alone. Maybe it was a time:
you moved to a new community or job
while in a hospital waiting room (or emergencyroom)
you were excluded from something your friends were doing
after a death or brokenrelationship
you were in a big crowdbut felt invisible and unnoticed

Mostof us have had times like this in our lives. And I don't know anyone who
likes them. Ravi Zacharias points out that many of today's "advances"create
loneliness.
In this age of Communication. We cansend e-mail quickly around the world.
We canvisit with someone in anothercountry in a chat room. We can see
world events in our living room. But our interpersonal contacthas
diminished. We are spending our time with impersonal machines rather than
people.
The age of technologypromised more free time but what has happened is that
less time is spent in building relationships and more time is invested in using
those conveniences. (Considerthe television)
Medicaladvancementhas increasedthe length of life while losing the meaning
of life. "All our advances notwithstanding, never before has a generationlived
so much on antacids and antidepressants in an effort to calm harried spirits. .
."
Fourth, human sexuality has never been more studied yet we have never been
more confusedabout what is right or normal in such expressions. The media
presents such an unrealistic expectationfor sexthat most people feeling
cheatedor unsatisfied.
It is surprising to think that the book of Genesis couldpossibly have
something to sayto our world. But loneliness is not new. It is not true that
"People who need people are the luckiestpeople in the world". What is true is
that people who need people are the ONLY people in the world.
In our text this morning we find Jacoba very lonely man. The greatplot to
receive the blessing from Isaac was a greatsuccess. . . in one sense. However,
in another sense it was a terrible failure. Jacobwas forcedto leave home to
escape being killed by his furious brother. So, Jacobgets the blessing but he
has to leave the inheritance with his brother.
Jacobis sent to his uncle's home to find a wife. The journey to Haran was a
long one. When he was about 70 miles from home he reachedwhat is now
known as Bethel. It is surprising that we find Jacoboutside the city

apparently sleeping in the wilderness. It was common practice that visitors in
a city would be extended hospitality for the night. So . . . either Jacobarrived
after the gates were closed, orhe was so depressedthat he didn't want to be
sociable.
It is hard to imagine what was in Jacob's headthat night. Was he filled with
regretover his actions towardEsau? Was he mad at his mother, his brother,
or his father? Was he feeling sorry for himself? Did he feel that God had
desertedHim? We don't know, but any or all of those things are possible.
Jacobmay have felt like Joe Bayly who wrote this "Psalmof My Life"
A Psalm In a Hotel Room
I'm alone, Lord,
alone,
a thousand miles from home.
There's no one here who knows my name
exceptthe clerk,
and he spelled it wrong,
no one to eat dinner with,
laugh at my jokes,
listen to my gripes,
be happy with me about what happened today
and saythat's great.
No one cares.
There's just this lousy bed
and slush in the streetoutside

betweenthe buildings.
I feel sorry for myself
and I've plenty of reasonto.
Maybe I ought to say
I'm on top of it,
praise the Lord,
things are great;
but they're not.
Tonight
it's all
gray slush.
[JosephBayly, Psalms of My Life]
If you have ever experienceda "grayslush" time of life then you will gain
something positive from this experience of Jacob's.
GOD'S MESSAGE TO JACOB
While sleeping Jacobhas a dream. This was a unique dream because
immediately Jacobknew that God was communicating to him. I don't know
about you, but most of my dreams leave me shaking my head. I have no idea
how such wackythings getinto my head. This was not a typical dream. It was
a messagefrom God. Jacobsaw a ladder or stairwaythat went from the earth
to Heaven. On the stairwayangels were going up and down. At the top of the
ladder the Lord stood. Jacobheard the Lord say,
I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will
give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your
descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the
westand to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be
blessedthrough you and your offspring. I am with you and will watchover

you whereveryou go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave
you until I have done what I have promised you.” (13-15)
God sends Jacobseveralmessages,
He is here. In Jacob's dayit was common to think of God as being very
territorial. In other words, there was a God who oversaw your city but only
your city. Other gods governedother cities. So, for Jacobit might have
seemedthat he had literally left the presence and protectionof GodAlmighty.
God reminds Jacobthat He is present. In theologicalterms we could say that
God affirms His "omnipresence." He is present everywhere. We are never
outside of His domain. David understood this when he wrote Psalm 139,
Where canI go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I
go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are
there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. (7-10)
Jesus told his disciples, "Lo, I am with you always, evento the end of the
earth." The messageis simple. You may "feel" alone, but you are NOT alone.
We must rely on truth and not feelings in the lonely times.
He is working. The Lord tells Jacobthat
"I am the LORD the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will
give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. . . .I am with
you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this
land. I will not leave you until I have done what I promised."
Jacobmay have felt that God had forgotten Him. But God is still at work.
Jacobdoesn'tsee it but God is molding Jacob's character. He is preparing
him, even in the wilderness, for the work He has for him to do.
The ladder has angels going up and down. The thought is that the angels going
up were bringing the needs and requests of the people to the Father. The
angels coming down were bringing God's answers and provision. God is not
absent . . . He is involved and at work in your life. If you are a child of God,
you canbe certainthat He has not forgottenyou. He has told us that He will

"never leave us or forsake us." Justbecause we don't see what He is doing,
doesn't mean he isn't doing anything.
Have you ever watchedthe artist that draws landscapes onPBS? Usually the
painting is near completion when he takes a dark colorand starts dabbing it
all over the canvas. Now imagine that you are the canvas. You certainly would
conclude that the artist was ruining the painting. You might even conclude
that he didn't care about art at all. But what you don't realize is that he is
putting shadows in the painting and those shadows bring the painting to life.
That's the way God sometimes is working in our lives. We see the darkness
and we don't understand it. We conclude that God is trying to hurt us. But
what he is really doing is bringing depth and characterinto our lives.
He is Committed to Us. God tells Jacobthat He will be with Him until He
fulfills His promise to Him. Do you understand how incredible this is? Jacob
has actedthe part of a scoundrel. He has deceivedhis father and brother. He
has lied and deceivedand now was being chasedfrom his home. And in this
setting, under these circumstances, Godstill says, "Hey, I'm going to see this
through with you." Paul wrote "He who begana goodwork in you will bring
it to completion" (Philippians 1:6).
It's possible that you feel all alone because you have failed. You have done
foolish things and believe that you don't deserve any friends. Truth is . . . that
may be true. You certainly don't deserve to be loved by God. And neither do
I. But the messageis simple, God is committed to you even though you may be
weak in your commitment to Him.
There is a Way to God. There is a ladder going from earth to Heaven. God is
accessible.But the question we must ask is: what does the ladder represent?
Goodworks? Church membership? Baptism? Greatexperiences? The Bible
tells us that the ladder is Jesus. Jesus said, "Iam the way, the truth, and the
life, no man comes to the Fatherexcept through me." Paul affirms that there
is "one mediator betweenGod and men, the man Christ Jesus."(1 Timothy
2:5)

Quite frankly, the reasonyou feelso lonely may be because you have not come
to God in the right way. Godhas provided a bridge, a ladder for you. The
Gospelis clear;we cannever earn God's love. We have already done too
many things againstHim. Our life is filled with rebellion. A just Godmust
punish, not overlook, sin.
Jesus became our "stairwayto heaven" when He took our place and died for
our sin. The Bible tells us that we must place our hope and confidence in Him
in order to become part of God's family. We can only get to Heaven by using
this stairway.
When I was in high schoolI had a period where I was supposed to play with
the orchestra. The orchestra roomwas on the fourth floor. Unbeknownst to
me, the fourth floor did not go all the way around the school. There were two
sections where there was a fourth floor. On the first day of class I couldn't
find the orchestra room. I'd go up some stairways and they would stopat the
third floor. I found one that went to the fourth floor but I couldn't find the
orchestra room. Finally someone pointed me in the direction of the correct
stairwayto the orchestra room. When I went up those stairs I found what I
was looking for.
It is the same in the Christian life. There is only one stairwaythat leads to
Heaven. This stairway is Jesus Christ. I'm sure Jacobdidn't understand this
at the time of his vision but I think the message wasthere for you and me to
understand now. So, here's the keyquestion: Have you taken the stairwayto
Heaven? Have you placed your trust in the one who died for your sin? If you
haven't, the first step towarddealing with your loneliness is to trust the
Savior.
JACOB'S RESPONSETO GOD'S PROMISE
When Jacobawoke fromhis sleep, he thought, “Surelythe LORD is in this
place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is
this place!This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of
heaven.” (Gen. 28:16-17)

The first thing we see is that Jacobis strengthened. His eyes are opened. He
realizes that he is not alone after all. Now, I know that it is important to know
that God loves us. But I also know that at times, we want more than the
knowledge ofGod's presence. Sometimes we are hungry for flesh and blood
companionship. That is understandable. In fact, that is why God has given us
eachother. He tells us that in the church we are to encourage one another. We
are to "weepwith those who weep, and rejoice with those who rejoice." We
are to be as friends one with another.
I know sometimes we need a hug, or someone to listen to us, or cry with us.
But I suggestthis morning that we don't really understand what a blessing it
is to have God at our side. We pass it off as nice sentiment but don't
understand the profound blessing it is. Do you realize that God is far superior
to any friend you could hope to have?
He will never leave you like some of your friends will
He will always listen even when your friends are too busy for you
He will never bring up the past (if you have confessedit)
He will always know what to do
His guidance will always be appropriate
He will love you even when you don't actthe way He wants you to.
There is no human friendship that can come close to what God offers us. Paul
understood this. He said, "If God is for us, who can be againstus?" Asaph
wrote in Psalm73, "Whom have I in Heaven but you? And earth has nothing
I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength
of my heart and my portion forever."
Don't miss the message. If we have the Lord, everything else is decoration. If
we have everything BUT the Lord, we have nothing. Jesus is the friend that
can and will supply your need. Other people are nice, but what you really
need, you have, in Christ.

Jacobworships. We read that Jacobwas afraid. He said "this is none other
than the house of God." This is not a fear that comes from threat, it is a fear
that comes from respectit is a fear that comes from awe. This is a common
reactionin the Bible. Over and overagain someone has an encounterwith
God and they are terrified. His greatnessoverwhelms us.
Adam (Genesis 3)
Moses atthe burning bush (Exodus 3:6)
David after the death of Uzzah (2 Samuel 6:9)
Isaiahconfessesthat he is "undone" (Isaiah6)
Daniel (Daniel8)
When the disciples saw Jesus walking onthe water(Matthew 14)
At the mount of Transfiguration(Matthew 17:6)
Jacobrealizes that He is on Holy Ground. When you are on holy ground you
become aware ofyour sin. Jacobknows he deserves nothing from God's hand.
But God has, in His mercy, given Him life. In response to this blessing he sets
up a monument from the stone he used as a pillar and uses the stone as a
reminder of His encounter with God. That stone became a pillar of grace. It
served as a reminder that God has not given to us as we deserve . . . He has
instead given us His mercy and His love. When we realize this we bow in
worship.
He vows to serve God. The last words of Jacobare somewhatperplexing.
Then Jacobmade a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will watchover
me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eatand clothes to
wearso that I return safelyto my father's house, then the LORD will be my
God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all
that you give me I will give you a tenth."
It is hard to tell whether Jacobis saying, "O.K. if you deliver on what you
promise, I will serve you." Or whether he is saying, "In light of the fact that
you are going to be with me and provide for me, I will give you my life."

Frankly, it doesn'tmatter. The point is clear:If we understand God's promise
to us and receive it . . . we should be led to serve Him with our lives.
Jacobunderstoodthe blessing was more than he deserved
He understood that the blessing was staggering in it's scope
He understood that a love like this cannever be repaid.
Jacobknew that in response to God's love, He should give His love and
devotion in return. He would worship Him. He would acknowledgehim with a
tithe of his income. He would honor Him with His life. I hope the messageis
clear. We can do no less. The God who comes to us in our loneliness deserves
the bestwe have to give in return.
CONCLUSIONS
So, for those of you who understand loneliness I remind you that you are not
really alone. You may not see Him. You may not feel Him. But He is present.
Will you receive His love? Will you take advantage of the stairwayto Heaven
that He has provided? Will you trust Him today?
If you have trusted Christ . . . if you have takenthe stairwayto Heaven, then I
have other questions for you:
Will you believe Him? Will you believe Him when He tells you that He is with
you, and working (even now) in you? And will you believe Him when He tells
you that He will never let you go?
Do you appreciate the value of His love? Are you looking beyond Him in the
foolish thought that you can do better? Will you restin the arms of your
beloved Savior?
I encourage youthis week to erectyour own monument to the Lord to remind
you of your best friend. It doesn't have to be a granite statue in your back
yard.
Maybe you could put a rock on your desk or your coffee table to remind you
that you are in the presence ofthe Lord.

Maybe you could put a poster up with a Bible Verse like Romans 8:38. 39
"And I am convincedthat nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death
can't, and life can’t. The angels can't, and the demons can’t. Our fears for
today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep
God’s love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepestocean,
nothing in all creationwill ever be able to separate us from the love of God
that is revealedin Christ Jesus our Lord."
Maybe you could put a post-it note on your mirror that says simply "You
NeverWalk Alone"
Maybe you could find a little ladder and put it in a prominent spot to remind
you of the one who has openedthe way to Heaven.
Do something that will remind you that you are in the presence of the Lord. I
hope that you will always have friends around you. I hope they are good
friends . . . the kind that care, and love, and support you. But even if you don't
. . . I hope you'll remember that because ofyour faith in Jesus Christ, you will
never walk alone.
Rev. Bruce Goettsche
HEAVEN ON THE EDGE OF NOWHERE SERIES: WRESTLINGWITH
GOD:THE JACOB NARRATIVE By ScottGrant
Dark night of the soul The characterin David Wilcox’s song If it Wasn’t for
the Night speaks ofa lonely “dark night of the soul” he experiencedon
Christmas Eve: If it wasn’t for the night So cold this time of year The stars
would never shine so bright So beautiful and clear I have walkedthis road
alone My thin coatagainstthe chill When the light in me was gone And my
winter house was still When I grieved for all I’ve made Out of all I had to
give On the eve of Christmas Day With no reasonleft to live. Even then
somehow in the bitter wind and cold Impossibly strong I know Even then a
bloom as tender as a rose Was breaking through the snow In the dark night of

the soulIn the dark night of the soul (1) If Jacobhad sung this song, he
might have said, “That’s my song.” He had to walk a road alone--awayfrom
home and into exile. He well could have grieved for the mess he had made of
things back home. He comes to his own dark night of the soul. Yet even then, a
bloom, as tender as a rose, was breaking through the snow. A light shines
forth in the darkness. Jacobfinds himself in a difficult place of transition, yet
the Lord transforms it. The Lord does the same with us. He transforms
difficult places of transition into places of worship. In Genesis 28:10-22,
angels and the Lord himself appearto Jacobas he leaves the PromisedLand.
Structurally, the passage is balancedby the appearance ofangels and a
mysterious visitor when Jacobreturns to the Promised Land (Genesis 32:1-2,
24-32). Esau, Jacob’s brother, wants to kill him because he stole the
patriarchal blessing from him. Rebekah, concernedforthe life of her son,
convinces her husband Isaac that Jacobshould leave the PromisedLand to
find a wife from among her relatives. So Jacobruns for his life--and for a
wife. The Lord reveals himself Then Jacobdepartedfrom Beersheba and
went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and spent the night there,
because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it
under his head, and lay down in that place. He had a dream, and behold, a
ladder was seton the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the
angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the LORD
stoodabove it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham
and the God of Isaac;the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to
your descendants. Your descendants will also be like
the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the westand to the eastand to
the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shallall the
families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keepyou
whereveryou go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you
until I have done what I have promised you.” (Genesis 28:10-15)
Jacobleaves Beersheba, whichis at the southwesternedge ofthe Promised
Land, for Haran, which is north and eastof the PromisedLand. So Jacob,
who has a stake in the land as the possessorofthe birthright, has to walk the
length of it as he leaves it. When the Lord first gave the land to Abraham, he
told him to “walk about the land through its length and breadth” (Genesis

13:17). When Jacobwalks the length of the land, he does so only as one who is
leaving it. In contrastto Abraham who, in obedience to the Lord, journeyed
from Haran to Canaan, now Jacob, who also carries with him the promises of
God, is making the journey in reverse. Everything is backwards. The
promised descendant--who is the younger son, not the older son--is leaving the
PromisedLand and going back from where his grandfather came. It seems
like a step back, not a step forward, in God’s plan to bless the nations through
this family. Jacob’s hope is that Esau’s angerwill subside and that he’ll be
able to return in a few days (Genesis 27:44). He doesn’t know what awaits him
in Haran. At this point, he doesn’t know that Laban will enslave him. Nor
does he know that a few days will turn into 20 years. Jacobprefigures Moses,
who under threat of death left his people in Egypt and spent 40 years in the
wilderness as a servant of Jethro (Exodus 2:15, 3:1). More importantly, he
foreshadows the entire nation of Israel, which was twice exiled from the
PromisedLand and served both Egypt and Babylon. Jacob, whose name
would be changedto Israel, has to go through what the nation would endure.
We’re told that he comes to “a certain place,” which the narrator does not yet
identify. The narrator adds that he spent the night there “because” the sun
had set. This otherwise unnecessaryreference indicates that Jacobis entering
a dark period. The next time the sun is reported as rising is 20 years later,
when Jacobreturns to the Promised Land (Genesis 32:31). No one takes him
in, so he’s either alone in the wilderness or an unfriendly city. He finds a stone
and uses it for a pillow. This is a hard place. As he enters into this dark
period, he arrives at a hard place. If he goes back, Esauwillkill him. If he
goes forward, Laban will enslave him. He’s betweenBeersheebaand Haran,
betweenEsauand Laban. He can’t go back. He can’t go on. With a rock for a
pillow and no one to take him in, he can’t staywhere he is, so this “certain
place” is an impossible place. And, at this place, he has a dream. The world he
inhabits when he’s awake is dark and difficult. When he goes to sleep, he sees
a different world. The word translated “ladder,” which appears only here in
the Old Testament, canalso be translated“stairway” or“ramp.” The nature
of this structure is uncertain. Angels employ the ladder to go back and forth
betweenheaven and earth. Angels are “ministering spirits sent out to render
service for the sake ofthose who will inherit salvation” (Hebrews 11:14).
Jacobwill later call the place the “gate ofheaven,” so the ladder represents a

link betweenheaven and earth, and the means by which heaven accessesearth
(Genesis 28:17). This ladder, with its “top” reaching to heaven, was literally
“placedtoward the earth.” Remember the towerof Babel in which rebel
humanity attempted to build a tower with a “top” that reached“into heaven”
(Genesis 11:4). The ladder in Jacob’s dream, by contrast, brings heaven to
earth. Humanity’s efforts to reachheaven are never effective. Men and
women canaccessheavenonly when it comes to earth or when God takes
them to heaven. Jacobseesthe heavenly world coming to the impossibly dark
and difficult earthly world that he inhabits. The Lord, positionedabove the
ladder, speaks to Jacobfor the first time in Genesis.He spoke earlierto
Abraham and Isaac and promised to bless them and their descendants. He
identifies himself as “the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac,”
recalling those promises. Some of those same promises were implicit in the
birthright and patriarchal blessing that now belong to Jacob, but the Lord
himself now affirms and fills out the promises. The text by no means justifies
Jacob’s methods in obtaining the birthright and the blessing. On the contrary,
it shows that the blessings ofGod are his to give and that he cannot be
manipulated. Up to this point, Jacobhas operated
under the premise that nothing will be given to him and that he must take in
order to get ahead. The Lord shows him another way. The Lord promises to
“give” to Jacoband his descendants the land on which he lies, which is the
land of Canaan, the Promised Land. He promises a multitude of descendants.
In promising that his descendants will spread out to all points of the compass,
the Lord is promising dominion. Yet such dominion will ultimately be
benevolent, for the Lord will extend his blessings to all the families of the
earth through Jacoband his descendants. All this the Lord promised to
Abraham and Isaac;now he speaks these same promises to Jacob, and in
some ways even expands them, though Jacobfor all the world seems like an
unworthy recipient. Then the Lord addresseshimself to Jacob’s immediate
concerns. He promises his presence and his protectionto Jacob“whereveryou
go,” including and especiallyHaran, the dark and difficult place he is about to
enter. The pagangods were thought to be geographicallylimited, but the God
of Abraham and Isaac crosses borders to be with his people. Although Jacob
is leaving the Promised Land, the Lord promises to bring him back. Again,

Jacobforeshadowshis descendants. The Lord would bring the people of Israel
back from Egypt, and he would bring them back from Babylon (Genesis
15:14, Isaiah40:1-11). Jacobis going into exile, but he will return, and the
Lord says that he will be present with Jacob“until” he has carried out his
promises to him. In other words, the Lord will not abandon Jacobonce he has
fulfilled his promises; the Lord will be with Jacobto fulfill his promises.
Transitions in life This story relates to the transitions that occurin our lives.
You leave some “land” of familiarity for the greatunknown. You move from
one place to another. You graduate. You leave your job. You leave behind a
relationship. You go from single to being married, from being married to
being single. You abandon a way of life. You go from full quiver to empty
nest, from vigorous health to debilitating illness. Finally, you move from life to
death. Before you move on, you want to understand what happened in this
place. So it seems as if you must walk the entire length of the land you’re
leaving, so to speak, in order to understand your history in it. One by one,
memories wave to you as you go by. You wonder if they fit into a coherent
story line. Perhaps the new land will give you perspective on the old land, but
for now, complete understanding eludes you. As you move on, in some ways,
it may seemas if you’ve moved backward, notforward. You know that the
sun has set on a chapter in your life. Yet the sun has not yet risen on the new
chapter. You’ve come to a dark place. The future looks dim. You’re confused.
You wonder what God is going to do with your life, if you’ll be the blessing to
others that you want to be. You find a rock and use it for a pillow; you’ve
come to a hard place. You may be lonely, possibly a little desperate. You
can’t go back. You can’t stay where you are. You wonder how you canmuster
the strength to go on. You’ve come to an impossible place. You wonder if God
himself has trapped you and you find yourself speaking to God as David did:
“You have enclosedme behind and before, and laid your hand upon me”
(Psalm 139:5). The world you inhabit is dark and difficult. In this world, it
seems that no one gives you anything and that you must take in order to get
ahead. But the story of Jacobtells us that there is another world, one that has
broken into this world, and that there is another way. The Lord is here, and
you have a future. The apostle Paul writes:“In the future there is laid up for
me the crown of righteousness,whichthe Lord, the righteous Judge, will
award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved

God's unseen presence shapes our lives

God's unseen presence shapes our lives

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